It was an adventure - 10 months of studies in Finland. This adventure quickly developed into a deep, lifelong relationship. And this is mostly due to its unique environment, lovely and somehow crazy people and some incredible, indescribable magic...

Internationality

You'll find Finland in the northeast corner of Europe, surrounded by Russia, Norway and Sweden - and mainly by the Baltic Sea. With its 5 million inhabitants it's not one of the most highly populated countries of the world, and this country in general doesn't attract that much attention anyway. Well, it didn't formerly; in recent years, Finnish politicians have begun to be counted among the best diplomats, Finnish sportsmen lead in winter sports and car racing and also Finnish music is finding its way to the continental charts.

Its geographic remoteness greatly influences the Finnish people and their culture. Finns are known as reserved. They don't expect to be noticed abroad - the same way they don't expect foreigners to come to Finland. But if they do come anyway, they'll be heartily welcomed - just like personal guests. Finns generally don't talk that much (except under alcoholic influence), it is said that they can be silent in many languages. That's not absurd since, already having two national languages (Finnish and Swedish), they easily learn English and one or more other foreign languages): Besides German, French or Spanish this can also include "exotic" ones like Japanese or Chinese.

Finland is anyway an internationally oriented country - that's no wonder since besides woods, water and many smart ideas there's not much future to find here. Almost every Finn takes the opportunity and goes abroad for a year during his or her education. And they don't only focus on Europe or the US!

Country and countryside

Life in Finland is concentrated mostly in the south- alone in Helsinki's metropolitan area live about a million people - a fifth of all Finns. And the next largest cities Turku and Tampere aren't far away from the capital.

But this doesn't mean that there is no life further north. To the contrary: On Finland's western coast gleam little pearls like Pori - city of jazz - or Oulu, which has turned over the last years into a place of modern technology and bright ideas. Eastern Finland then catches Finns as well as tourists from all over the world with its huge forests and numerous lakes - inviting to sailors and nature lovers alike). And if you aren't captivated before, you will be drawn into the magic at the latest when watching the deep orange and red sunset.

The most mysterious part of Finland covers almost half of Finlands ground: Lapland! North of its capital Rovaniemi starts the country of the midnight sun during summer and eternal night in wintertime. Only a few little settlements interrupt light forests of conifers and wide tundra here.

Technology

For centuries Finland lived from its natural resources: wood and water. Today no economy could survive this way and wood is even already being imported from Siberia.

But still companies with background in the Finnish wood industry managed to become internationally known - like the paper producing giant UPM Kymmene but also such well-known technology brands as Nokia, for instance. This last one developed from wood processing over rubber- and cable production to a world leader of telecommunications equipment. Also network operators Sonera and Elisa Communications are riding this wave of success - both combine Finnish know-how and innovative ideas in mobil communications as well as in Internet technologies.

Last but not least are all those smart guys and their bright ideas: Linux, an operating system now used worldwide, as well as the chat standard IRC (Internet Relay Chat) are Finnish developments!

Parties and Student Life

Maybe it's because of the long, dark and cold winter or due to the otherwise so controlled finnish mentality. But it may be also the remoteness to the "continent" - Finns use every opportunity to gather and party. The origin of many traditional festivities is long forgotten, most parties - especially those of students - don't need a reason anymore. And a finnish party mostly means to lose control while having lots of alcohol and a hot and steamy sauna.

To Finns music is fairly important - especially in their own (and for foreigners almost impossible to grasp) language. The style varies from traditional folk music to rock and pop - including the exceptional Leningrad Cowboys.

Particularly the Finnish students make traditions into "cult" - sometimes a very practical one too. Not only at the beginning of a semester, but also whereever students of different faculties or universities meet - it's visible by their "uniforms": those multicolored party overalls demonstrating unity and togetherness - and which with all their badges become unique pieces of art.

National holidays and festivities

Besides all the student parties other events and festivals in Finland are the Night of the Arts ("Taiteiden yö") in Helsinki, Pori Jazz, the famous opera festival in Savonlinna and "Down by the laituri" - a city festival in Turku. Especially in summer time, mostly around midsummer ("Juhannus"), lots and uncountable Finnish as well as world famous acts meet for great rock and pop festivals.

"Juhannus" clearly counts as a national holiday. The offical national holiday though is December 6th, the Day of Independence. On this day in 1917 the Finns came to end hundreds of years of Russian and Swedish control and founded an own and independent Finland. Another nationwide holiday is May 1st - "Vappu", which is celebrated as Labour Day as well as the students carnival.

German-finnish relations

The fastest way to reach Finland is by airplane - Finnair departs from different german airport towards Helsinki from where you can connect to flights to almost every location in Finland. Alternatively also flights via Stockholm are possible.

A bit longer but far more comfortable is travelling by boat. While Finnjet which departs from Rostock throughout the summer months is used mostly for mass transportation, real Finland fans use Finncarrier's freight boats departing from Lübeck. And those who don't mind a longer car ride through Sweden can use the ferries from Lübeck, Rostock or Sassnitz to Trelleborg and take the luxurious ferry boats from Stockholm to Turku or Helsinki.

Unfortunatly it's not possible to spend all the time in Finland, but there are many Finland friends living in Germany. Finns who live in Germany as well as Germans who have different kinds of relations to Finland meet in the German-Finnish society. And some Finnish atmosphere can be found even in Germany by participating in the yearly Juhannus barbecue..